Bulgaria Festival of Roses Private tour

Arrival
in Sofia. Dinner and overnight. (Visit to Sofia for those
who have the flight back in the morning).

Day 2: SOFIA – BACHKOVO – PLOVDIV (200 km) May 31, Saturday

Breakfast. Depart for Bachkovo Monastery
founded in 1083 by the Byzantine military commander, Grigorij Bakuriani. It is
one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe,
considered as the second most important monastery in Bulgaria, after the Rila
Monastery. It is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine,
Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith. Continue to visit
the Old Plovdiv: lively and cosmopolitan city, Plovdiv offers the opportunity
to visit a neighborhood made up of ancient buildings constructed in the style
called the "Baroque of Plovdiv". Following the cobblestone roads that
run along this hill visitors can admire the many houses that have hosted for
decades the most important families of the city. Today, one of these houses,
built in 1847, is home to the astonishing Museum of Ethnography. A short
distance away is the SS. Constantine and Helen built in 1832. Visit the Roman
Theatre (from outside). Accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Breakfast. Departure to the "Valley
of Roses". On the way stop to visit the Church of the Nativity near

Shipka, built in the nineteenth century. Continue to the heart of the
Rose Valley to visit the fields of roses

where dancers in traditional costume are illustrating the collection of
customs practiced by hundreds of

years by the local people. Tasting of typical products made from
the extract of rose and visit the exhibition

of the ethnographic collection and production methods. Continue to the
city of Kazanlak where travelers will

visit the famous Thracian Tomb (protected by UNESCO), dating back to
about 4000 years. Continue to Stara Zagora. Visit the rich Regional Historical
Museum and the Forum of the Roman city founded by the Emperor Trajan
Augusta Tariano (98-117). It was one of the most important cities of the Roman
province of Thrace. The numerous mounds scattered in groups throughout the
region, are an indication of the density of the population of ancient centers.
Accommodation at the hotel. Full board.

Breakfast. Visit the Neolithic Dwellings Museum
in the city which preserves one of the most important finds in the world of
dwellings and artifacts that testify to the "birth of Europe."
Departure towards the Black Sea with a stop at Karanovo to visit one of the
latest and most interesting archaeological discoveries in Bulgaria - a mound
that contains, among other objects, a cart fwith horses, part of the funeral of
a wealthy Thracian aristocrat of the early centuries AD. Arrival in Nessebar -
town under the protection of UNESCO as the richest place in history of the
entire Black Sea coast. Visit the churches of Christ Pantocrator, St. John the
Baptist and the Church of the Redeemer. Arrival in Varna. Accommodation. Full board.

Day 5: VARNA – ARBANASSI – VELIKO TARNOVO (250
km) June 3, Tuesday

Breakfast. Visit the Archaeological Museum and
the city center with the impressive remains of the Roman Empire. Departure to
visit the Madara Horseman - monument protected by UNESCO. Continue to
Arbanassi, a small village that housed the bourgeois families of Veliko
Tarnovo. Here travelers can visit the medieval Church of the Nativity, known
for its beautiful frescoed interior, and the house museum Kostanzaliev. This
grand building was built in the eighteenth century by a wealthy merchant in the
area. Visit the Monte Tzarevez of Veliko Tarnovo where even today are tangible
evidence of the greatness of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the district of
craftsmen. Accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Breakfast. Departure to visit the Troyan
Monastery dating back to the sixteenth century AD, most famous for the works of
the great Bulgarian painter Zahari Zograf. Important political and cultural center
of the Renaissance, the monastery hosted one of the revolutionary committees of
the national hero Vasil Levski. Departure to Koprivshtiza. Visit the historical
center of this small town that is home to some of the most beautiful historic
houses throughout Bulgaria. There are more than sixty of these houses built
entirely of wood between 1700 and 1800. Visit the Church of the Virgin (Uspenie
Bogоrodichno) and two of the houses-museum. Arrival in Sofia,
accommodation in a hotel. Full board.

Day 7: SOFIA – RILA – SOFIA (250 km) June 5, Thursday

Breakfast and transfer to the outskirts of the
capital to visit the Boyana Church and the National Historical

Museum. This church is an extraordinary and unique example of medieval
church in the Balkans. Built in

the tenth century, it has some astonishing frescoes dating back to the
thirteenth century. Continue to the

Rila Monastery that is considered the most important monastery of the
Balkans. Founded in the tenth

century, this monastery has been for centuries an important cultural
landmark of the country and one of

the main centers of Orthodox Christianity. Back to Sofia. Dinner and
overnight.

Day 8: SOFIA – departure June 6, Friday

Breakfast. Visit of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital
and one of the most beautiful Balkan capitals where tourists can admire the
square Narodno Sabranie, which was named the National Assembly building in the
neoclassical style of the nineteenth century. The Aleksander Nevski Cathedral,
built to commemorate the liberation from the Ottoman rule, is the biggest
orthodox temple on the Balkan peninsula. Visit the church of St. Sophia, one of
the most famous Byzantine monuments in the Balkan area showing a rare example
of the transition from East and West. Transfer to airport.

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